Have any of you out there heard a recording of Footpath by Samuels, or the second movement of My Lady White with K. Mycka performing? On both of those recordings, especially Footpath, I am interested in knowing what kind of mallets they might be using to get that "slap" like sound during the higher dynamic levels. I have not been able to heard a ton of mallets in person, or try them out so I am not sure what is being used for that.

I have not heard either of those particular recordings, but I do know that depending on the quality and type of recording, the 'slap' which you describe could be a product of the recording itself, and not something produced by the mallets. I dont know if this is necessarily what is happening in this particular case, but I know that it has been known to occur....just something to think about.

I'm not familiar with the "My Lady White" recording, but as for the Samuels "Footpath," I'm sure he used his Malletech "Samuels"-model mallets (softer or harder, I'm not sure which...) IIRC, he had joined up with Malletech by the time he recorded "Footpath" on one of his CDs.

In the case of the Samuels mallets, they are cord-wound, as opposed to the materials commonly associated with marimba mallets, and the cord brings out the contact sound (the initial sound of the mallet hitting the bar), producing the "slap" that you referred to. It's fairly common for vibraphone mallets to have that prominent contact sound, especially when played in any sort of jazz context.

JW